It’s beginning to look a lot like the holiday season which means it’s time again to break out my absolute favorite movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas! To celebrate this cinematic masterpiece, I wanted to make a treat that was both delicious and appropriate to the theme of the film.

You’ll also need a wax paper or parchment paper lined baking sheet and a shot glass and a black food safe marker. I use the Wilton food markers all the time and love them.

Because it needs time to cool, we’ll start by first making our white modeling chocolate that we’ll use for teeth.

Gently heat up your white candy melts until liquid smooth using your microwave. In a microwave-safe bowl, zap your melts for 30 seconds at a time, mixing between zaps until you end up with a smooth melted liquid.

Once the white candy melt is all melted, let it rest for about 5 minutes. You’ll want the candy to still be liquid smooth, but just above the melting point. Too hot and you’ll just end up with a huge mess.

Once cooled, mix in ¼ cup of light corn syrup.

At first, the candy melt and corn syrup will mix smoothly, but then you’ll notice the mixture getting thicker and thicker and harder to stir (Use either a wooden spoon or a stiff spatula to mix).

When the mixture comes together in a thick almost paste-like texture, pull out of the bowl and use your hands to knead together.

Yes, these are photos of me making ORANGE clay, and this recipe calls for white clay. I forgot to take photos of the white clay, so I’m using orange clay to show you the process. Just pretend it’s the right color…the process is exactly the same.

This part is VERY MESSY! I strongly suggest doing this part over the sink. As they mix, you’ll have a lot of liquid coming out of the dough…don’t worry, this is normal! Just keep kneading. Eventually, all the excess liquid will either drip off or be worked back into the dough and you’ll be left with a smooth clay-like final product.

Congratulations, you just made modeling chocolate!

Wrap your white modeling chocolate ball in plastic wrap and stash in the fridge to firm up for about 30 minutes.

Grease up your hands with a little extra butter and rub some butter on the outside of your shot glass.

Carefully pull chunks of the hot cornflake marshmallow mixture out of your pot and shape into wreath shapes by pressing around the outside of your greased shot glass.

Allow those to cool and harden as you move onto making the royal icing.

Beat your egg white on high speed until foamy.

Slow your mixer to low and sift in your powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until fully incorporated.

Switch back to high speed and add in your lemon juice and a few drops of green food coloring. Keep whipping for 5-10 minutes or until your icing is incredibly thick and forms stiff peaks.

Place a few dots of royal icing around the edge of your wreath and press on some “holly berry” red-hots.

Now let’s make our bows.

To make the bows, simply use a rolling pin to roll out your red Airhead candy until thin and long. Using a lightly greased knife, cut off a strip about 1 1/2 inches long and fold in half at a 90-degree angle. This is the ribbon part of your bow.

To make the “bow” part, take another strip approximately 1 inch long and fold the two ends to meet in the middle. Gently press down to adhere and then squeeze the candy in the middle to create the bow shape.

Use a drop of corn syrup or royal icing as glue to adhere the bow to the ribbon and then attach that to the bottom of your wreath.

To make the eyeballs, simply pinch off a small amount of your orange Tootsie Roll (or whatever orange candy you decide) and roll between your fingertips until you get a lightbulb shaped piece.

Repeat with your candy until you have enough for all your wreaths to have two. Don’t add the black eyeball dots yet, we’ll do that during final assembly.

On the top of your wreath, dot two small dots of icing and press on your eyeballs.

Using another dot of royal icing, attach a single dehydrated mini-marshmallow to the center of all your bows.

Carefully draw on a tiny skull face using your black food marker. Now is the time to also add the black dots to the center of your orange lightbulb eyes.

By now the modeling chocolate we made should be nice and firm.

Remove it from the fridge and pinch off a small chunk. Roll it in your hands to warm up and soften and then roll flat using your rolling pin.

With your greased knife, cut out jagged strips to make teeth.

Swipe a good thick swipe of your royal icing onto the top of the tooth strip and then press into the back of your wreath, joining the two together so your teeth can be seen through the middle of your wreath.

Do this with both your top teeth and bottom teeth.

And there you have it! Your Nightmare Before Christmas wreaths are all assembled and ready to go!

And yes, these bastards take a fair bit of work, so now is the time to sit back and bask in the awesomeness that you just created.

I mean, come on, look at how kick ass these things are!

This absolutely calls for a glass or two of something alcoholic to celebrate.

Either eat these bad boys immediately or wrap up tightly and store for up to a week (or share with others…it is the season, after all.) And if you’re looking for even more Christmas mischief to whip up, why not check out our Krampus Cinder Toffee recipe or our Krampus Ember Cookies?

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THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL, NO-DERIVATIVES 2.5 INTERNATIONAL LICENSE. YOU’RE WELCOME TO MAKE ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING SHOWCASED ON THE NECRO NOM-NOM-NOMICON, BUT MAY NOT DO IT FOR COMMERCIAL OR FINANCIAL GAIN. YOU MAY NOT COPY, DISTRIBUTE OR MODIFY THESE RECIPES IN ANY WAY WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE NECRO NOM-NOM-NOMICON. NO RECIPE, TUTORIAL OR PROJECT MAY BE USED FOR COMMERCIAL OR PROFIT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION.